[Note:
Because my column today deals with health, I am going to quote the following
(re Obamacare) from Abiding Word Ministries newsletter THE VINE AND
BRANCHES (Midwinter 2013): "David and Barbara Green are committed
Christians who own over 500 Hobby Lobby stores in 41states. The stores
are closed on Sundays so their employees may spend time with their families.
When the Green family discovered that Obamacare would require them to
include sterilization drugs, contraceptives, and abortion-inducing drugs
in their company's insurance plan, they, like many other businesses
appealed to the courts for relief, claiming their First Amendment rights.
The Obama lawyers argued that such rights don't apply to for profit
corporations. The Greens lost. A federal appeals court, the 10th Circuit
Court and even Obama-appointed Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor
have all refused to grant an injunction that would keep the Greens from
having to violate their Christian convictions. Consequently, they face
a fine of $1.3 million per day. The Green family respects the religious
convictions of all Americans, including those who do not agree with
them. All they are asking is for the government to give them the same
respect by not forcing them to violate their religious beliefs. Editor's
Note: How have we come to the place in America where the First Amendment
applies only to some and not to all? If First Amendment rights can be
taken from the Greens, is it not posible that one day this precious
right may be taken from any one of us?"

How
can Christians, who are supposedly the majority in this country, allow
this to happen to the Greens? What are you who are reading this, that
I am now writing, doing about it? Nothing? Not contacting your member
of Congress? Not organizing in opposition? Not even writing a letter
to the editor or calling your local talk show about it? Then don't complain
when the government comes for you and takes you away for whatever reason
they want!

Also,
remember that at the Virginia Convention on June 16, 1788, James Madison
warned: "I believe there are more instances of the abridgement
of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of
those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.]

I
thought about titling this article, "The Use of IV in Preventive
Medicine for Geriatric Patients," and sending it to a medical publication.
However, because I have a Ph.D. and not an M.D., I thought its chances
of being published would be slim. I also thought its chances of publication
would be slim because I would be accusing many of the administrative
or academic elites (who establish the polices in the medical profession)
of a lack of what neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock called "common
sense."

Dr.
Blaylock has his own website, knows what causes Alzheimers (and how
to alleviate it) and ALS symptoms caused by untreated lyme disease (and
how to cure it). He also greatly helped my mother (who will soon be
89) with her mental functioning. He said the elderly often don't eat
and drink as much as they should (hardly anyone drinks enough water),
and therefore they become dehydrated. When that happens, they lose things
critically important to their health, especially magnesium for their
mental functioning. He suggested I regularly give her a multimineral/multivitamin
plus MagOx (magnesium oxide) which is nonprescription and doesn't cause
the possible problems with bowel movements that can occur with magnesium
citrate. Once my mother started taking those, her mental functioning
improved greatly, and people suffereing from dementia or Alzheimers
might also take note of this.

The
other day, I mentioned to Dr. Blaylock that my mother was "mildly"
dehydrated and asked if an IV might help her. He replied that he and
other doctors "back in the day" used to routinely give non-medicated
IV fluids to patients suffering from "mild" dehydration as
a way of keeping them from becoming fully dehydrated. This is important
because with full dehydration can come other problems, such as dermatological
problems from dry skin and a UTI (urinary tract infection) because the
germs/virus can more easily attack the body tissue rather than simply
being flushed out.

Unfortunately,
while doctors today give senior citizens many things to aid their health
(e.g., exercise routines), they rarely give patients IVs when they are
only "mildly" dehydrated. I know IV has helped my mother because
twice when she became fully dehydrated and was taken to the hospital,
she became almost normal within a short time after a simple IV was administered.
I believe there is a great need for someone to begin (and expand nationally)
a service to administer regular, non-medicated IV for the elderly (or
anyone) in their homes. I think that if the administrative or academic
elites change their policies they have established for the medical profession
in this regard, doctors would gladly begin to use such a service.

What
happens now is a geriatric patient functioning at 100% of their capacity,
slowly, almost imperceptively, begins to slide. They become slightly
less active. Their brain and digestive functions communicate to each
other that they need slightly less food and drink. Because they have
slightly less food and drink, they become even more inactive. That,
in turn, leads to even less food and drink, and they eventually slide
into "mild" dehydration. However, it's so slow, they don't
even realize what is happening. If the medical elites would change their
policies regarding IVs, though, doctors would order preventive IVs administered
depending upon the level of need for each geriatric patient. It may
be that some patients only will need this once a year. Others may need
it more often.

I
seriously believe millions of elderly, especially those who are homebound
or find it difficult to get to a doctor's office, could greatly benefit
from home-administered IV. Doctors could also offer IVs in their offices
for their elderly patients who can make it there.

As
more and more of us baby-boomers reach our senior years of life, there
will be an increasing need for doctors to help us maintain good health,
and an occasional IV for those who, for whatever reason, don't eat or
drink enough, can greatly assist in that regard.

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Another
two suggestions for senior citizens regarding hydration has to do with
the outside of the body. A couple of times, I noticed my mother was
becoming forgetful. I also remembered that she had not taken a shower
in a while, letting the warm water run on her head. As soon as I got
her to do this, her ability to remember returned. What happened? I believe
the warm water dilated the blood vessels in her head, allowing better
oxygen flow to the brain. You might recommend this to the elderly you
know (including yourself if you haven't done so recently).

Also,
I noticed my mother wasn't washing her face as frequently. Therefore,
whenever she went to the bathroom, I would hand her a wash cloth rinsed
in warm water and ask her to rinse her face. Or, whenever she sat at
the table to eat, I might hand her a folded paper towel rinsed with
warm water and ask her to rinse her face. This hydrated her dry skin
and helped reduce her facial dermatological problems.

Hydration,
internally and externally, is important for maintaining good health,
and often the elderly need our assistance in that regard.

Dennis Laurence Cuddy, historian
and political analyst, received a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill (major in American History, minor in political science).
Dr. Cuddy has taught at the university level, has been a political and
economic risk analyst for an international consulting firm, and has been
a Senior Associate with the U.S. Department of Education.

Cuddy has also testified before members of Congress
on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice. Dr. Cuddy has authored or
edited twenty books and booklets, and has written hundreds of articles
appearing in newspapers around the nation, including The Washington Post,
Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He has been a guest on numerous radio
talk shows in various parts of the country, such as ABC Radio in New York
City, and he has also been a guest on the national television programs
USA Today and CBS's Nightwatch.